Stamping on Silk...

Hi! A very happy Diwali to all! May this festival of lights bring you lots of joy and prosperity!

I have a very special project for you today. I have always loved working with textiles. When I started using the Altenew Mixed Media inks, I was beyond thrilled. These inks work on any surface, including fabrics. And once you heat set them by ironing on the reverse, they are permanent!

I decided to use them on a silk scarf to create a one-of-its kind accessory.

I used the Painted Flowers stamp set by Altenew and inks from the Red Cosmos, Green Fields, Glacier Caves and Summer Afternoon sets.

I stamped the outlines with the Jet Black ink and ironed the scarf to heat set the ink. The base layers were stamped using Coral Berry, Arctic, Caribbean Sky, Warm Sunshine and Forest Glades inks. 

For the second layer I used Ruby Red, Caribbean Sky, Persian Blue, Caramel Toffee and Evergreen inks.

Here is a closer look at the stamping.

And a another look at the completed scarf.

Few things that I learnt while making this scarf:

• Take your time with the stamping. As you have to use stamping blocks, precision is important. I took two days to complete this scarf.
• Use stamp sets that are easy to line up and have a more artsy feel. That way even if you make a mistake, it won't show up.
• Iron between layers. Pigment inks take longer to dry. So ironing after each layer prevents smudging and makes the inks permanent.
• Put some old newspapers below your fabric when stamping. The inks always bleed through the fabric.
• Use darker inks. Colors always appear lighter on fabrics as more ink is absorbed into the surface.

Entering this scarf in the following challenges:

Inky Fun Creativity Inspired: Pigment Inks Contest 2021:

Altenew November Inspiration Challenge:

Simon Says Monday Challenge - Any Holiday Occasion:

Shopping Our Stash #457:

Crafty Creations November Challenge #427:

Love,

Nandini

Altenew Educator "For the Love of Flowers" Blog Hop and Linky Party + Giveaway

Hi! Welcome to the latest blog hop by Altenew Educators. You must have come here from Michelle Ochoa Murray. Isn’t she amazing? If you find a broken link, you'll find a master list of the hop links at the Altenew Card Blog.

I completed my Altenew Educator Certification Program in March 2019. It was a great experience and I am so glad I opted for it! I have really enjoyed the support from the Altenew team and the great group of Altenew Educators.

I am sure you will agree that Altenew is the best in terms of great designs, especially their florals. It is very easy to create beautiful cards with the Altenew stamps and inks. But I wanted to take this further and explore other mediums. Coming from a textile design background, I have a great affinity for working with fabrics. I decided to use these products on fabric. Here is my first project.

I started with a simple fabric pouch made of unbleached cotton. These are normally sold as bases for painting or decoupage. I like the cream color and the heavily starched surface. I used black pigment ink and the Floral Art stamp set to stamp the images on the pouch. After letting it dry, I added colors using the Altenew Crisp dye inks. I was pleasantly surprised by the crisp stamping and the brightness of colors. I used the darker shades of the colors so that they would show up nicely against the cream background.

After my stamping was done, I allowed the inks to dry overnight. Here is a close-up of the stamping.

To make the colors permanent, I simply applied decoupage medium over the entire pouch with a brush. Just remember to work fast as the medium might smudge the inks slightly. Once the medium was dry, my stamped pouch was ready to use. Here is another look at my completed pouch.

Encouraged by the success of the pouch, I decided to extend my experiments further. I have always felt the beautiful layered floral designs by Altenew are very suitable for decoupage designs. I made a small fabric bag this time.

I tried it first with regular tissue papers. Though I got the stamping part right, the tissue paper itself was too delicate and tore. I decided to use a kitchen towel instead and had better luck.

Kitchen towels are thicker and sturdier which makes it easier to work with them. I stamped the flower from the Beautiful Day stamp set in shades of pink and red. I cut masks out of used regular copy paper and used those instead of masking paper. Once the towel was dry, I carefully applied it to the bag with decoupage medium. Here is a closer look.

I like the texture that the kitchen towel brings to the surface. I added details with chalk paint and crackle medium around the paper. I also rubbed some metallic gold was to enhance the crackle and added some sparkly embossing paste to the center of the flowers. Once the bag was completely dry, I covered the entire design with decoupage medium. Here is the completed bag.

Since this bag is again made of unbleached cotton, it is quite stiff and stands up well. The design also lies flat, with just a little texture from the kitchen towel and the crackle.

Another angle

I am very happy with both my fabric projects. Here is a look at the bag and the pouch together.

Moving on, I decided to do another non-card project. I recently restarted scrapbooking. I used to do a lot of digital scrapbooking in the past. Last year I did a few layouts and found that I really enjoy the larger canvas that scrapbooking offers. Here is my layout.

This picture was taken 3 years ago at Hyderabad. We were all friends throughout 5 years of college and have kept in touch. We all got together at Hyderabad after over 20 years. It was an amazing trip and this picture was taken when we went out site-seeing. The dress theme of the day was red. So naturally the layout had to be red! I started with a sheet of red paper and adhered two ivory circles to it. I also stamped the outline images from the Japanese Mum set on the upper left and bottom right corners to give some texture.

I took a piece of jute and frayed the edges. This served as my mat behind the photo. I also lightly inked the edges of the photo with brown ink.

To create the flowers and leaves, I first smooshed several sheets of paper with green, yellow, orange and red watercolors. I die-cut the sheets with the Fantasy Floral die set. I also die-cut some green handmade paper for leaves. I assembled the flowers and then added them to the layout. Here is a closer look at the left side

And the right side.

I decided to not have a title and instead decided to go with a small sentiment which fit the layout perfectly! It is from the Leaf Canopy stamp set. I heat embossed it with white embossing powder and popped it up on the layout with some foam tape.

To finish, I die-cut a few more circles out of ivory paper and added them to the layout. Here is another look at the completed layout.

I couldn’t resist making a card with the beautiful Leaf Canopy stamp set which I recently bought. I decided to go with some loose water coloring and here is the result.

I started with a piece of watercolor paper and the solid stamp from the Leaf Canopy set. I sprayed the paper with water and then inked the stamp with a mix of Altenew Crisp inks and distress inks. I stamped the image after misting the stamp with water for a diffused impression. I repeated this process until I was happy with the final look.

I added some splatters with the diluted inks. Once the paper was completely dry, I used the outline images and stamped them slightly offset. I heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I also added some gold embossing along the edges of the panel.

The sentiment is from the Signature Words die-set. I simply die-cut it from a scrap of black paper and adhered it with liquid glue to the panel.

To finish, I popped up the panel over a black card base with foam tape.

I hope you enjoyed my projects and will try some of the techniques. I would love to know which project is your favorite. Also, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. You can continue this hop with the super talented Terri Marie Koszler. Or you can start at the beginning with the Altenew Card Blog. I have also included the entire list of participating blogs for you.

Blog Hop Order:

Altenew Card Blog

Michelle Ochoa Murray

Nandini Karmarkar - You are here!

Terri Marie Koszler 

Irina Fonina

Amy Hill

Vicki Finger

Laurel Beard

Teri Stokes

Neha Aggarwal

Nenette S. Madero

Nancy McClelland

Eva Bussom 

Amber Rain Davis

Rosie Neustaedter

Patty Mello

Helen Kalb

Teri Wilson

Christine Pennington

Maryam Sharara 

Nicole Watt 

Virginia Lu

Prize info: No Altenew blog hop is complete without some great prizes. This time Altenew is giving away a $30 gift certificate to 3 lucky winners! Please leave a comment here on the Altenew Card Blog by 3/11/2020 for a chance to win. We’ll also draw a winner to receive a $15 gift certificate from the comments left on each designer’s blog on the blog hop list below. All winners will be announced on the Altenew Card Blog on 3/14/2020.

There’s MORE! We will pick 2 of our favorite handmade creations from those who joined the linky party and they will each receive a $15 gift certificate to our store!

Special offer: Save 15% off on ALL Stamp & Die Bundles from 3/5/2020 at 12:01 AM EST until 3/6/2020 at 11:59 PM EST. https://altenew.com/collections/stamp-die-bundles  No code needed to enjoy this sale! Not valid on previous purchases. Excludes February 2020 release products.  

That is all for now.  I hope you will consider following my blog and keep visiting me often. I look forward to your comments. They always make me happy!

Love,

Nandini

August Challenges - Week #2

Hi! The month of August was very special at Create Something Catchy Challenges. For we hosted four weekly challenges instead of the usual monthly challenge. Each challenge was different and exciting, sponsored by some of our favourite crafters.

Week #2 was hosted and sponsored by the our beloved Dr. Sonia! You can check out her awesome blog here.

The challenge was to create any project incorporating handmade flowers. Here is my inspiration project.

I love working with fabric and have a large stash of different varieties. I created two types of flowers. The small ones are made from circles of fabric. The large one is made from two strips of fabric. Here is a photograph of my daughter, wearing the large flower.

After she had worn it, her friends demanded more. So I ended up making three more bands!

Some more hair bands that I had made in the past are here

And here

Hope you enjoyed my creations! Looking forward to hearing from you!

Love,
Nandini

Stamping and misting 2...

Hi! The current challenge at Beyond Grey Challenges is Stamping on Fabric and Misting. I have already posted my entry in the layout category.

My second entry is in the cards only category.

I started with a piece of plain cotton fabric which I painted with acrylic colours in red, orange and yellow. Then I used a circle mask in a corner and sprayed the inside with metallic gold paint using an old tooth brush. Once the paint was dry I stamped using black Versamark ink and my favourite Micia stamp set. The birds are made using Faber Castell all surface marker.

Here is a closer look at the card.

The sentiment is from Bo Bunny.

I mounted it on cream card stock and added detailing with gold glitter pens.

I deliberately kept it simple since I wanted the focus on stamping and misting. 

Entering this in the BGC #53 - Stampin & Misting.

Love,

Nan

Stamping and misting...

Hi! The current challenge at Beyond Grey Challenges is Stamping on Fabric and Misting. I was very excited because this was an opportunity to try my hand at something new. Since this was a month long challenge, I thought I would have plenty of time to get my entries ready. Alas, life intruded in the form of kids' illness, schools etc. And finally here I am, at the last moment, posting my entries!

My first entry is in the layouts category.

I was very inspired by a layout created by Corrie J, thanks dear. You can check out her great tutorial here. 

I made the mist myself by mixing some water and acrylic shimmer paint by Hobby Ideas. It is not visible in the pics, but there is a lovely shimmer to the misting. Using masks and mini mister, I created a radiating pattern.

I created the butterflies by stamping on various fabrics with Versamark ink and then embossing with gold embossing powder. I cut the butterflies out using the co-ordinating die.

Here is another look at the butterfly.

All the fabrics are backed by fusible paper canvas to give it some stiffness.



The pic is a selfie clicked by my husband that I absolutely love! The paper doily was dipped in coffee to give it a slightly aged look. The sentiment is computer generated. Two Cheery Lynn Flourishes and some pearls completed the layout.

Entering this in BGC #53 - Stamping and Misting.

I have been trying hard to get into scrap booking for sometime. I find layering very difficult since my style is very definitely CAS. I am quite pleased with the finished project. Though it still looks very CAS to me! Would really love to hear what you think about my effort from you.

Love, 
Nan

Cute little bag...

Hi! The March challenge for Sew Crazy Challenge at Crazy Little Projects is bags. I love making bags. And had a whole list of the ones that I planned to make. Unfortunately, this month has been rather busy. So I ended up making only one.

I made this bag as a birthday gift for my daughter's friend.

The original tutorial and pattern is from The Mother Huddle.

I embellished it using a flower made from some scraps from the printed fabric that I used as lining.

I also made a few hair bands that I put in the bag.

A perfect gift for a little girl, don't you agree?

Love,
Nan

Back to my old love...

Hi! I came across the Crazy Little Projects site some time back. What really caught my eye was the Sew Crazy Monthly Challenge, a sewing series which will have a monthly theme and a challenge.

I was very excited since I have been wanting to get back to sewing for some time now. I learnt to sew as a child from my mother who used to teach sewing, embroidery etc. Since I did Home Science, I did 3 more years of sewing in college. Though I have stopped making garments, I do enjoy making stuff like bags, cushion covers etc.

I was even more excited when I saw that one of the projects was a zippered pouch with pin tucks. Though pin tucks are not a problem, I have never been too comfortable with zippers. So this was my project of choice.

For the outer fabric, I recycled an old trouser. The print is from my stash. There is a great tutorial at Simple Simon & Co which I followed.

The pouch turned out a bit bigger that the tutorial since I could only get a 10 inch zipper. I embellished the pouch with some fabric flowers, embroidery and yellow wooden buttons.



Here is a close up of the pin tucks...



and the flowers.



The pouch now goes to my daughter to hold the million and half things that she needs to carry to school everyday.



I really had fun making this pouch. And the best part? Took me only around an hour to finish! I am definitely making more!

Love,
Nan